Former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, has openly criticized President Bola Tinubu’s recent broadcast speech, describing it as underwhelming and out of touch with the concerns of the Nigerian populace.
In his nationwide address on Sunday, President Tinubu sought to address the ongoing #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protests, which erupted on August 1. Protesters have voiced multiple demands, including the reinstatement of fuel subsidies, better living standards, reduced government spending, lower electricity tariffs, and solutions to rising insecurity.
Ezekwesili, using the platform X (formerly Twitter), expressed her disappointment with the President’s speech. She stated it was a “monumental missed opportunity” to provide meaningful answers and clear plans to address the protesters’ concerns. She wrote, “@officialABAT, As one of the millions of Nigerians who were at church when you delivered your late-in-coming speech to Citizens on the #EndBadGovernancelnNigeria protests, let me loudly say it was terribly underwhelming to read.”
The former minister further criticized the tone and content of the speech, suggesting it read like a party manifesto and failed to connect with the pressing issues facing the citizens. She asserted, “Your speech reads like a page from your party manifesto and terribly failed to connect to what our citizens on the streets are angry and protesting about.”
Ezekwesili highlighted that the speech appeared to be written with a mindset focused on adversaries rather than the collective good. She stated, “Your speech was sadly again written out of a mindset that is focused on ‘getting back at our enemies’. Imaginary enemies at that! No true Leader has the luxury of having ‘enemies’ among their citizens. Not at all. A public leader becomes the leader of all with a mind that does not think of any as their enemies.”
Ezekwesili also condemned the persistent reluctance of Nigerian public leaders to accept responsibility and called for the immediate cessation of violence against peaceful protesters. She urged the security agencies to hold accountable those responsible for the violence during the protests. “It is nauseating to observe this recurrent innate unwillingness of Nigerian public leaders to admit responsibility for the demands of the same public leadership that they kill and maim citizens to assume,” she said.
She appealed directly to President Tinubu, asking him to order the Inspector General of Police to stop the violence against peaceful protesters and to ensure that those responsible for harming citizens are sanctioned. “As we remember and pray for families of all our citizens mauled down or maimed for demanding an End to Bad Governance, let me call on you @officialABAT to immediately instruct the IG @PoliceNG and his men to ‘Stop killing peaceful protesters now!’”
